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THE 



DEYIL'S HOLE 



WITH AN ACCOUN'T OF A VISIT MADE TO IT IN" 1679, 



\ BY ROBERT CAVELIER DE LA SALLE. 



TO WHICH IS ADDED 



A MEMOIR OF THE LIFE OF LA SALLE. 



BY NELSON COLT. 



FOVRTB EDITION 




NIAGARA CITY: 

PRINTED BY N. T. HACKSTAFF, AT THE HERALD OFFICE. 

1859. 



Ltr3 



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THE DEYIL'S HOLE. 



The Devil's Hole is situated three and a balf miles below the 
Falls of Niagara, and deserves a more particular examination than 
has heretofore been in the power of the visitor to make. 

On arriving at the recess, the visitor may first examine Table 
Rock, in the rear, from which there is an extensive view of the 
river both above and below, to the extent of three miles, and im- 
mediately underneath is the Devil's Hole. In addition to the 
scenery of this extensive level rock, with its fearful precipice be- 
neath, it is interesting as the scene of the dreadful butchery in 
1759. Over this precipice, all of that fated party, who were not 
killed at the first onset, were driven,— together with horses, cattle 
stores and wagons, from which but one living soul escaped. 

The ground on the opposite side of the road is also well worthy 
of a particular examination. When covered with forests trees and 
underbrush, with the exception of the road, which had been cleared 
out, perhaps no locality can be imagined, better fitted for a suc- 
cessful ambuscade, if not particularly guarded against. An am- 
phitheatre of high ground spreads around and perfectly encloses the 
valley of the Devil's Hole, with the exception of the narrow ravine 
formed by Bloody Run ; from which, against a large force, there is 
no escape, except over the precipice of the Devil's Hole. After the 



4 THE DEVILS HOLE. 

experience acquired on ttat single fatal occasion, it appears that 
another surprise from a hostile force, was efFectuallj guarded 
against. Many broken arrow heads and axes of flint stone, brough t 
from a great distance, as there is no stone of the kind in the coun- 
try, show that this high ground become the customary residence 
of an Indian force, — undoubtedly to free the communication be- 
tween Forts Niagara and Schlosser from the danger of another am- 
buscade, Within the memory of many of the present inhabitants 
of the neighborhood, there existed the remains of a line of stockade 
defence, extending on the high ground from near Bloody Run, for 
some considerable distance to the north. With such means to pre- 
vent surprise, it became impossible to effect another ambuscade on 
the spot. 

Descending the stairs sixty-five feet, and passing to the right un- 
der the perpendicular wall, there is the appearence of the action of 
running water upon the rock, where the softer parts have been worn 
away — leaving a very singular, dfiep-indented, ribbed, surface. — 
This attrition of the rock was probably made when the Falls were 
at Lewiston ; as, at present it is more than one hundred and fifty 
feet above high water mark on the river. 

From this place, by a circuitous descent, the visitor reaches prob- 
ably the greatest curiosity of the Devil's Hole, called the Ice Cave. 
During the Autumn and Winter seasons, an uninterrupted stream 
of water flows out of the cave, which freezes solid during the winter; 
towards spring the water ceases to flow, and the ice if not remov- 
ed, continues through the year. The temperature of the Cave in 
summer, is thirty-eight degrees of Fahrenheit, and a cold stream of 
air is constantly issuing from it. 

The bank of the river will next deserve the attention of the visi- 
tor. Termination Rock, the lowest point of interest at the Devil's 
Hole, will be first visited. Next above the Devil's Mammoth, a 
rock of vast dimentions, partly in the river. Above this is Belle- 
rue Rock, also situated partly in the river ; and still higher up is 
the mouth of the Bloody Run. From all these points, the views are 
of unequalled splendor. The vast Niagara, compressed to the 



THE devil's hole. 
width of thirty rods, is running in lofty wa.cs with the speed of a 
Ja^^lrse ; bounded on the Canada shore by . perpendicular wa 

ilst»;e. and displaying a sublin^e and resistless force, not 
exceeded in any other part of the river from Erie to Ontarto. 

n returning the young and athletic n.ay take *e™uteo( he 
Bloody Run, a'nd they will pass a scene of rude ^'^^^^I'-J^f^ 
^m well repay them for the extra fatigue of the route. Vast rocKS 
;;^^d on rocLf are here laid bare by the action of the stream du™g 

[he winter and spring months ; and the splenor of the many m nuc 
falls may well be imagined, in the spring, when a stream of con- 
siderable magnitude is pursuing its descent to the Niagara. A 
easier route of return is by the usual path. 

Most of the remains discovered of the disastrous surprtse and 
massacre in 1759. are under the Table Eock. which forms so prom- 
inent a part of the scenery above. Human bones decayed par^ 
of carriages, bullets in quantities and in cont.guity. which show 
that bags of them were the unclaimed prize of the vrctors. are st 11 
occasionally discovered.and establish the location o the fearful leap 
into eternity, taken by those who were not killed in the first as- 

A gentleman of Ugh respectability, still residing in the neigh- 
borhood of the Devil's Hole, who became a resident in 1/9J, was 
present, not long after his arrival, at a friendly interview between 
Brandt, the Indian chief, and Mr. Steadman, who made his escape 
from the massacre of the Devil's Hole. From their conversation, 
he learned the following circumstances relating to that event.- 
Steadman was in the Commissary's depatment,and had charge of the 
provision train, then on its route from Fort Niagara to Fort Schlosser 
guarded by a company of regular troops and by friendly Indians. 
When the attack commenced, the tr^in was in and clustered on each 
bank of Bloody Hun ; Steadman being mounted on a powerful 
black horse, broke through the line, which had completely enclos- 
ed the devoted party, and made his escape by the Fort Schlosser 
road to the south, closely pursued by Brandt and two Indians.- 
After gaining, at his best speed, the high ground near the site of 



6 THE DEVn's HOLE. 

the stone lionse now occupied hj Mr. Vogt, he looked around to 
ascertain his chances of escape, and discovered tliat Brandt was in 
advance, rapidly gaining upon him, and that the two Indians had 
Dot yet reached the brow of the hill, and were therefore not in sight. 
In this desperate emergency, he made the masonic signal of dis- 
tress ; whereupon Brandt made a signal of recognition, returned, 
informed his companions that pursuit was useless, and directed 
their instant return to the contest still in progress. Steadmau 
had, therefore, no further difficulty in effecting his escape to Fort 
Schlosser. 

The party when attacked, being in and huddled in disorder on 
the banks of Bloody Run, made no resistance. The first fire of the 
Indian fusees produced a great destruction of life ; the drivers were 
tomahawked on their seats, and those who were not thus killed, 
was driven alive over the precipice, together with their teams and 
baggage. Bloody Run, on this occasion, literally contributed 
blood, instead of water to the dark abyss below and received at that 
time its present name. 

The drummer belonging to the escort, in falling over the preci- 
pice, fell upon his drum in such a way as to prevent any serious 
injury ; and, after the enemy had retired, he made his escape out 
of the Devil's Hole to Fort Niagara. Mr. Steadman and the drum- 
mer, whose name was Mathews, were the only survivors of the am- 
buscaded party. 

The escape of Mr. Steadman was considered by the resident 
friendly Indians as the work of the Great Spirit ; and as a testi- 
mony of their sense of it, they presented him the tract of land en- 
circled by his route, on this occasion, to Fort Schlosser. Steadman 
and his heirs continued in the possession many years, until the 
state of New York assumed the possession. The claim to this tract 
of land, which was then made by Steadman's heirs, was rejected ; 
probably in consequence of the discovery in the archives of the 
government, of an application of Steadman to government, to grant 
him the land previously conveyed to him by the Indians— thus 
acknowledging the invalidity of his title. 



LA SALLE'S YISIT 



DEVIL'S HOLE 



Late in tlie autumn of 1678, Robert Cavalier de la Salle, with a 
party of mechanics,la borers and voyagers,entered the Niagara River 
from Frontenac, in a small schooner often tons, the jSrstsail vessel 
Tvhich ever floated on Lake Ontario, and landed at Lewistou. A 
rude palisade was immediately erected in the neighborhood of a 
spring in the rear of the present ferry house, sufficient for the 
safety of his men, stores, saris and rigging, intended for building a 
large vessel on Lake Erie. The stores were landed and placed in 
security ; the vessel was dismantled and removed three miles 
down the river to an eddy, where every necessary precaution was 
adopted for its safety during the winter. La Salle, Tonti, and 
Hennepin, with a small essort of men, started on an examination of 
the river to Lake Erie, and then for the first time visited the Falls 
of IS'iagara. After a few hours delay, the party continued their 
route to Black Rock. On their return, the ship yard was located 
at the mouth of the Tonawanda, and no time was lost in remov- 
ing everything neccessary to the immediate prosecution of their in- 
teresting labors. 

After some time spent in unintermitted labor, La Salle felt him- 
self at liberty to examine the country in the neighborhood more 
particularly. On Grand Island he formed an acquaintance with 
Gironkouthie, an Indian Chief of intelligence, who was engaged in 
hunting and fishing. La Salle was well versed in Indian lan- 
guages, and their acquaintance ripened into friendship and intima- 
cy during the winter. La Salle expressed a desire of visiting the 
Devil's Hole and examining it particularly. Against his proposi- 



8 

tion, Gironkouthie strongly &nd urgently remonstrated. He ob- 
jected, that, from the beginning of time, it had been the residence 
of the Spirit of Evil, and misfortune wonld foUo^w in the footsteps 
of any intruder. La Salle's curiosity was excited, and he urged 
his companion to relate the tradition of his tribe respecting it. — 
The Indian lit his pipe, and proceeded to gratify the wish of his 
companion. 

Ages and ages of posterity and happiness to the red man had 
passed, from the time of his first creation. The Great Spirit loved 
his red children and gave them this country for their sole use and 
enjoyment. So would it have been forever, if the great Falls of 
" Unghiara," whose thunder we now hear so plainly, had contin- 
ued near the spot where your canoe landed. But the red man 
became bad, and vexed the Great Spirit with their war parties ; 
the rocks began to fall off amidst thunders and storms, and scarce- 
ly a moon passed that was not marked by some change. Moons 
and moons passed and the Falls were above the Devil's Hole. 

Noises of thunde,r shrieks and groans, were heard from this 
dark den, which greatly exciied the couriosity of the young men. 
One of them a fine young brave, insisted upon examining the se- 
crets of this dark prison house. Armed for the battle, he descend- 
ed with much difficulty and we never saw him more. Then came 
the word that the pale faces, in vast canoes, which would each 
carry an army, had come out of the great sea, and landed under 
the mid-day sun. The evil was distant and we thought little of 
it. Time passed on, and another of our young men descended into 
the Devil's Hole, He returned in a few hours a raving maniac, 
and his hair, which had been black and glossy as a raven's, had 
become white as snow. Then came the word that John Cabot had 
landed on the shore of the great sea, with many other pale faces 
towards the rising sun. Thus our fathers were convinced that the 
Spirit of Evil lived in the deep dark hole, and that the fate of the 
red man depended upon his not being disturbed. Judge, then, my 
white brother, whether you can disturb the Evil Spirit of the 
Devil's Hole, and not suffer the penalty. 



THE devil's hole. 9 

La Salle assented to tlie prudence of the advice given him by 
his new friend. But when spring came, he could not resist the 
temptation of examining this abode of the Indian Spirit of Evil. — 
He descended alone and without the knowledge of any one. — 
Voices he heard, indistinct ; and was led by them to the mouth of 
a small cave, partly filled with ice. Here a voice in the Iroquois 
language became distinct, in an urgent warning against prose- 
cuting further discoveries in the west. Return, said the voice, to 
your settlement at Fontenac, and wealth, honors, and a long life 
of usefulness shall be yours ; and when death comes, generations 
of your descendants shall follow you to the grave, and history shall 
transmit your name to posterity, as the successful founder of a 
great empire. Proceed to the west, and although gleams of hope 
may at times shine in your path, ingratitude and disappointment 
will be sure to meet and follow you, until a treacherous murder 
shall end your days, remote from human habitations, without the 
shelter of even the wigwam of a fnendly red man. The eagle of 
the desert shall strip the flesh from your bones, which will lay 
bleaching under a tropical sun, unburied and unprotected by the 
cross you now cherish so devotedly. Proceed at your peril. 

La Salle heard no more, but fled out of the Devil's Hole with his 
utmost speed, deeply repenting that he had not been governed by 
the advice of Gironkouthie. But he was not a man to be turned 
from his high and ambitious course of enterprise. How far he had 
occasion, during the few remaining years of his enterprising life, to 
place confidence in the prediction of the genius of the Devil's Hole, 
may be jcidged from the following brief sketch of his life, for 
which we are indebted to Bancroft's History of the United States. 
Certain it is, that from the time of his visit to the Devil's Hole, the 
unbounded success which had previously attended his efforts, 
ceased to crown his enterprising exertions, although supported by 
the authority and liberality of Louis XIV. Fortunately for the 
gratification of curiosity, the Devil's Hole has ceased to be the resi- 
dence of the Spirit of Evil, and may now be examined with im- 
punity. 



HISTORY OF LA SALLE. 



ty, and '.vithnocompamon but poverty, and boundless spirit of 
enterpnse about the year 1667, when the attention of a 1 FaJe 

trade, at La Chine, and encouraged by Talon and Courcelles he in 
1669, explored Lake Ontario, ascended to Lake Erie ,„d I 
the French Governor, so.e years after occuSg tt^ Cfs :'Z 
Sorel, began U, fortify the outlet of Lake Onrario La Sail -epat 

rdrrr::::;r--rn::tt^^^^^^^^^ 

ZZs ' ""' ""' "'" '^»'"^"<' *'»«= -"" tie Five 

In the portion of the wilderness of which the voung man was the 



HISTORY OF LA SALLE. 

^^^=^!=^^^ 

"tt:?or;::— ;°o;™ea p>a.s or col»i.a«o. .» ^.e 

Once more he repaired to France ; and, from the poUcy of Colbe.t. 
wto nstinetively listened to tbe ,ast -hemes wh.chb. hero c a 
.acitvhad planned, and the special favor of Seignelay, Colberts 
: be obtled. ,ith tbe monoply of traffic in bnffalo sUr,,s a^on. 
mission for perfecting the discovery of tbe great river. Wuh Tonti 
rCian veteran,^ bis Uentenant, and a recru.t of mechanics 
and marines,-wilb anchors, and cordage for ngg.ng -^^^Vj --i 
stores of merchandise for traffic .ith the natives.-w.tb swe l.ng 
topes and a bonndless ambition, La Salle, m *" -'^Y"^'^' 
returned to Tort Fontenac. Before winter, '^ --^^^ -"«;:";", 
tons, the first that ever sailed info Niagara Kiver, bore a pa,t o. 
Us ompany to tbe vicinity of tbe Falls. At Niagara a trading 
Lsewas established; in the mouth of Tonawanda Creek the 
work of ship building began ; Tontiand the Franciscan, Hennepn 
venturing among the Senecas, established relations of amity, while 
La Salle himself skilled in tbe Indian dialects, was now nrgmg 
forward the ship-builders, now gathering furs at bis m^igazine, 
now gazing at the mighty cataract-fittest emblem of eternity ,- 
now sending forward a detachment into tbe country of tbe Illinois, 
to prepare tbe way for bis reception. . , , » ^ t 

Under the auspices of La Salle, Europeans first pitched a tent at 
Niagara; it was he who, in 1679, amidst the salvo of his little ar- 
tillery,, and the chanting of tbe Te Deum, and the astonished gaze 
of the Senecas, first launched a wooden vessel, a bark of sixty tor,s, 
on tbe upper Niagara Eiver, and in the Griffin, freighted with the 
colony of fur traders for the valley ol tbe Mississippi, on the /th, 
day of August, unfurled a sail to tbe breezes of Lake Erie. Indlt- 



12 HISTORY OF LA SALLE. 

ferent to the malignity of those who envied his genius, or were in- 
jured by his special privileges. La Salle, first of mariners, sailed 
over Lake Erie, and between the verdant isles of the majestic De- 
troit ; debated planting a colony on its banks ; gave a name to 
Lake St. Clair, from the day on which he traversed its shallow 
waters ; and after escaping from storms on Lake Huron, and plant- 
ing a trading house at Mackinac, he cast anchor at Green Bay. — 
Here, having dispatched his brig to Niagara River with his com- 
pany in scattered groups, repaired in bark canoes to the head of 
Lake Michigan ; and at the mouth of the St'. Joseph, in the penin- 
sula where Allouez had already gathered a village of Miamis, await- 
ing the return of the GriflSn, he constructed the trading house with 
palisades, know as the Fort of the Miamis. It marks his careful 
forethought, that he sounded the mouth of the St. Joseph and raised 
buoys to mark the channel. But of his vessel, on which his for- 
tunes so much depended, no tidings came. Weary of delay, he re- 
solved to penetrate Illinois ; and leaving ten men to guard the Fort 
of the Miamis, La Salle himself, with Hennepin and two other 
Franciscans, with Tonti and about thirty followers, ascended the 
St. Joseph, and by a short portage over bogs and swamps made 
dangerous by a snow storm, entered the Kaukakee. Descending 
its narrow stream, before the end of December, the little company 
had reach the site of an Indian village on the Illinois, probably not 
far from Ottoway, in La Salle county. The tribe was absent, pass- 
ing the winter in the chase. 

On the banks of Lake Peoria, Indians appeared ; they were 
Illinois ; and, desirous to obtain axes and fire arms, they ofl"ered 
the calument and agreed to an alliance ; if the Ii'oqnois should 
renew their invasions they would claim the French allies. They 
heard with joy that colonies were to be established in their vicin- 
ity ; they described the course of the Mississippi, and they were 
willing to guide the strange.is to its mouth. The spirit and pru- 
dence of La Salle, who was the life of the enterprise,won the friend- 
ship of the natives. But clouds lowered over their path ; the 
Griffin, it seemed, certain, was wrecked, thus delaying his discover- 
ies as well as impairing his fortunes ; his men began to despond ; 
alone, of himself, he toiled to revive their courage ; — there 



HISTORY OF LA SALLE. 13 

could be no safety but in union. " None," be added, " sball stay- 
after the spring, unless from choice." But fear and discontent 
pervaded, the company ; and when La Salle planned and began 
to build a fort on the banks of the Illinois, four days journey below 
Lake Peoria, thwarted by destiny, and almost despairing, he nam- 
ed the fort Crevacoeur. 

Yet here the immense power of his will appeared. Dependent 
on himself, fifteen hundred miles from the nearest French settle- 
ment, impoverished, pursued by enemies at Quebec, and in the 
wilderness surrounded by uncertain nations, he inspired his men 
with resolution to saw trees into plank and prepare a bark ; he 
dispatched Louis Hennepin to exploie the upper Mississippi ; he 
questioned the Illinois and the captives on the course of the Mis- 
sippi ; he formed conjectures respecting the Tennessee river ; and 
then, as new recruits were needed, and sails and cordage for the 
bark, in the month of March, with a musket and pouch of powder 
and shot, with a blanket for his protection and skins of which to 
make mocasins,he,with three companions,set off on foot for Fronteac 
to trudge through thickets and forests, to wade through marshes 
and melting snows, having for pathway the ridge of highlands 
which divides the basin of the Ohio from that of the Lakes, with- 
out drink, except water from the brooks, — without food, except sup- 
plies from the gun. Of his thoughts on that long journey, no record 
exists. 

The remainder of this sketch shall be very brief. When La 
Salle returned in 1681 to Illinois, wiih large supplies of men and 
and stores for rigging abrigantine,he found the post of Illinois deser- 
ted. Hence came the delay of another year which was employed in 
visiting Green Bay and conducting traffic there, and in perfecting a 
capacious barge. At last, in the early part of 1682, La Salle and 
his company decended the Mississippi to the sea. His sagacious 
eye discerned the magnificent resources of the country. As he 
floated down its flood ; as he framed a cabin on the first Chickesaw 
bluff ; as he raised the cross by the Arkansas ; as he planted the 
arms of France near the Gulf of Mexico ;— he anticipated the future 
afiiuence of the emigrants, and heard in the distance the foorsteps 
of the advancing multitude that were coming to take possession of 



14 HISTORY OP LA SALLE. 

the valley. Meantime he claimed the territory for France, and 
gave it the name of Louisiana. La Salle remained in the west until 
the spring of 1683, his exclusive privilege having then expired, 
•when he returned to Quebec to embark for France. 

Early in 1684,by the interest of La Salle with the court of Louis 
XIV"., the preparations for colonizing Louisiana were perfected, 
and in July, the fleet under the command of Beaujeu, left Rochelle. 
Disasters lowered on the voyage from the commencement to its 
unfortunate close, occasioned by deficiency of judgement in the 
naval commander, who proved to be envious, self-willed and fool- 
ishly proud. By reason of his obstinacy, the fleet sailed west of 
the Mississippi, and landed in January, 1685, in the Bay of Mata- 
gorda in Texas. Weary of difl"erences with Beaujeu, believing the 
streams that had their outlet in the Bay might be either branches 
from the Mississippi,, or lead to its vicinity. La Salle resolved to 
disembark the colonists. His store ship was wrecked by the care- 
lessness of the pilot in entering the harbor. The following night a 
gale of wind dashed the vessel utterly in pieces, and the stores, 
provided -with the munificence that marked the plans of Louis 
XIV., lay scattered on the sea. Misfortune still pursued the feeble 
colony, and in two years their numbers were reduced from 230, who 
landed at Matagorda, to about forty men. 

On the return of La Salle from an expedition to New Mexico, he 
heard of the wreck of the little bark, which had remaiued with the 
colony; he heard it unmoved. Heaven and man seemed his ene- 
mies ; and with the giant energy of an indomitable will, having 
lost his hopes of fortune, his hopes of fame, — with his colony di- 
minished, among whom discontent had given birth to plans of crime 
with no Europeans nearer than the river Panuco, no Fiench nearer 
than Illinois, — he resolved to travel on foot to his countrymen 
at the north, and return from Canada to renew his colony in Texas. 

Leaving twenty men at Fort St. Louis, in January, 1687, La 
Salle, with sixteen men, departed for Canada. Landing their bag- 
gage on the wild horses from the Cenis, which found their pasture 
every where in the prairies ; in shoes made of green buff"alo hides; 
for want of other paths, following the track o the buffalo, and us- 
ing skins as the only shelter against rain ; winning favor with the 



HISTORY OF LA SALLE, 15 

savages by the confiding courage of their leader; they ascended the 
streams towards the first ridge of highland, walking through beau- 
tiful plains and groves, among deer and bufialo,— now fording the 
clear rivulets, now building bridges by felling a giant tree across 
a stream, — till they had passed the basin of the Colorado, and, in 
the upland country, had reached a branch of Trinity river. In the 
little company of wanderers, there were two men, Duhaut and 
L'Archeveque, who had embarked their capital in the enterprise. 
Of these, Duhaut had long shown a spirit of mutiny ; the base ma- 
lignity of disappointed avarice, maddened by suffering and impa- 
tient of control, awakened the fiercest passions of ungovernable 
hatred. Inviting Moranget, who was a nephew of La Salle, to take 
charge of the fruits of a bufialo hunt, they quarrelled with him and 
murdered him. Wondering at the delay of his nephew's re- 
turn. La Salle, on the 20th of March went to seek him. At the 
brink of the river, he observed eagles, hovering as if over carrion • 
and he fired an alarm gun. Warned by the sound, Duhaut and 
L'Archeveque crossed the river ; the former sulked in the prairie 
grass ; of the latter, La Salle asked, " Where is my nephew?" At 
the moment of the snswer, Duhaut fired ; and without uttering a 
word. La Salle fell dead. "You are down now, grand Bashaw; 
you are down now," shouted the conspirators, as they despoiled his 
remains, which were left on the prairie, naked and without bnrial, 
to be devoured by wild beasts. 

Such was the end of this daring adventurer. For force of will 
and vast conceptions ; for varied knowledge, and quick adaptation 
of his genius to untired circumstances ; for a sublime magnanimity, 
that resigned itself to the will of Heaven, and yet triumphed over 
affliction by energy of purpose and unfaltering hope,— he had no 
superior among his countrymen. He had won the aff"ection of the 
Governor of Canada, the esteem of Colbert, the confidence of Seg- 
nelay, and the favor of Louis XIV. After beginning the coloniza- 
tion of Upper Canada, he perfected the discovery of the Mississippi 
from the Falls of St. Anthony to its mouth ; and he will be remem- 
bered through all time, as the father of colonization in the great 
valley of the West. 

But avarice and passion were not calmed by the blood of La 
Salle. Duhaut and another of the conspirators, grasping at an un- 



16 



HISTORY OF LA SALLE, 



equal sLare of the spoils, were themselves murdered, while their 
reckless associates joined a band of savages. Joutel, with the 
brother and surviving nephew of La Salle, and others, in all about 
seven, obtained a guide for the Arkansas, and fording rivulets 
crossing ravines, by rafts or boats of buffalo hides making a ferry 
over rivers, not meeting the cheering customs of the calumet till 
they reached the country above Red River, leaving an esteemed 
companion in a wilderness grave, on which the piety of an Indian 
matron heaped offerings of maize, — at last, as the survivors came 
upon a branch of the Mississippi, they beheld on an island a large 
cross, Never did Christains gaze on that emblem with heartier joy. 
Near it stood a log hut, tenanted by two Frenchmen. Tonti had 
descended the river from Illinois and full of grief at not finding 
La Salle, had established a post near the Arkansas. 




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